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Obama vows to flex executive muscle in 2014

By David Nakamura and David A. FahrentholdThe Washington Post

Posted:
01/29/2014 12:01:00 AM MST

President Barack Obama takes the podium to give his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 28, 2014. Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio are behind the president. (Charles Dharapak, The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday sought to restore public confidence in his presidency after a dispiriting year, pledging to use his White House authority with new force to advance an agenda that Congress has largely failed to support.

In his fifth State of the Union address, Obama made clear that he was now promising to find ways around the legislature.

"America does not stand still," Obama said. "And neither will I. Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."

President Barack Obama takes the podium to give his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 28, 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)

In a speech that lasted just over an hour, Obama struck moments of bipartisan harmony, most starkly in an emotional moment near the end when he called on the nation to draw inspiration from Cory Remsburg, an Army ranger blinded in one eye by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan during his 10th deployment.

Remsburg drew a lengthy standing ovation from lawmakers in the House chamber, and he flashed them a determined thumbs-up.

For most of the speech, however, Obama made clear he would no longer be content to wait for Congress' approval after a bruising 2013. He challenged lawmakers to work with him to overhaul immigration laws and provide more benefits to American workers, including a higher minimum wage and extension of long-term unemployment insurance.

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But he also sketched out more than a dozen ways in which he intends to use executive powers. He argued that Congress — and, more broadly, Washington politics — had become a roadblock.

When Washington's fighting "prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy — when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States — then we are not doing right by the American people," Obama said.

He faces a tricky task: winning over a nation that has grown less trustful of his leadership after a year in which the federal government was partially shuttered for 17 days and the administration botched the rollout of Obama's signature health-care law.

For the first time on the eve of a State of the Union address, more Americans rate his performance negatively than positively, with 50 percent disapproving. To that end, Obama announced a list of executive actions that he will pursue in the coming months aimed at slowing the widening income gap. Plans include:

• Raising the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour.

• A government-backed private retirement savings plan for those without a employer-sponsored 401(k) plan.

• Speeding up implementation of a previously announced program to connect schools to broadband wireless.

"The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by, let alone get ahead," Obama said. "And too many still aren't working at all."

But Republicans quickly denounced the new proposals as small potatoes and accused the president of failing to work through the legislative process to achieve more sweeping initiatives.

"I suspect the president has the authority to raise the minimum wage for those dealing with federal contracts," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said before the speech Tuesday, after Obama's plans were leaked by the White House. "But let's understand something: This affects not one current contract; it only affects future contracts with the federal government. And so I think the question is: How many people, Mr. President, will this executive action actually help? I suspect the answer is somewhere close to zero."

White House aides acknowledged that the program pertains to future contracts, and they were unable to quantify how many could be helped by the program in the next year, saying more details would be announced in the coming days as Obama embarks on a four-state tour Wednesday and Thursday to rally the public behind his initiatives.

In the official Republican response, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., faulted Obama's approach to the economy. Although the unemployment rate fell last month to 6.7 percent — the lowest level in more than five years — the drop was powered mostly by a growing number of unemployed people who stopped looking for work.

"Last month, more Americans stopped looking for a job than found one," McMorris Rodgers said. "Too many people are falling further and further behind because, right now, the president's policies are making people's lives harder."

The exception to the combative posture from the White House was on immigration reform, which House Republican leaders have signaled in recent weeks that they could be ready to entertain.

Obama also praised his health-care law, which is both the signature achievement of his administration and — because of the fraught rollout of HealthCare.gov last year — the centerpiece of Republicans' case against him.

"I know that the American people aren't interested in refighting old battles," Obama said. "So again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people and increase choice, tell America what you'd do differently."

On foreign policy, Obama highlighted the U.S. military's withdrawal from the long war in Afghanistan, telling the public that the country could maintain a small force there for counterterrorism operations and to train Afghan troops.

And he implored Congress not to pass new sanctions on Iran as the administration attempts to negotiate a multilateral agreement with Tehran over its nuclear program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From the speech

Excerpts of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday, as released in advance by the White House:

"In the coming months, let's see where else we can make progress together. Let's make this a year of action. That's what most Americans want — for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations. And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all — the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead."

"Let's face it: That belief has suffered some serious blows. Over more than three decades, even before the Great Recession hit, massive shifts in technology and global competition had eliminated a lot of good, middle-class jobs, and weakened the economic foundations that families depend on."

"Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that ... too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by — let alone get ahead. And too many still aren't working at all."

"Our job is to reverse these tides. It won't happen right away, and we won't agree on everything. But what I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still — and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do."

"Opportunity is who we are. And the defining project of our generation is to restore that promise."

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